COP, UNC agree to two-way contest for next election

The next election in Trinidad and Tobago will be a two-way fight between a united opposition and the governing People's National Movement (PNM).

The leaders of the United National Congress (UNC) and the Congress of the People (COP) have agreed on such a political formula although they have not worked out the details of the structure of a united opposition.

Winston Dookeran and Kamla Persad-Bissessar met Friday at the Opposition Leader’s Port of Spain office yesterday to discuss unity and elections. It was their second meeting since Persad-Bissessar won the leadership of the UNC.

Dookeran had previously made the suggestion of a two-way race in any future general election but it is the first time that he and Persad-Bissessar have agreed on the matter.

The COP has its own ideas about governance and leadership and a UNC committee headed by Dr Roodal Moonilal is working on a draft unity strategy for consideration by the party's executive and membership.

There are several unity proposals under consideration, including a plan for a formal coalition in which each party will retain its identity and its leadership. Such a plan would mean that each would have to negotiate which seat it will fight in a power sharing arrangement.

Dookeran prefers such an arrangement. "COP...has established a permanent place in the political landscape of Trinidad and Tobago. I have no doubt about that and I think that will continue to be so.

"But for the purposes of the challenges ahead of us we have to find the right formula to have the one-to-one contest," he told reporters Friday.

He called the discussions with the opposition leader "interesting, inspiring and useful", noting that they agreed on three principles.

"That is, we are both very much interested in and will work towards charting and drafting and crafting strategies for unification within and between and amongst our parties...

"Secondly we’ve agreed in principle that we will work together for the purposes of the Local Government election which is constitutionally due by July...

"We have had agreement and consensus that we both would want to engage in any electoral contest on a one-to-one basis against the PNM."

Dookeran stated that he and the UNC leader have "in principle agreed that we will work towards a sustainable unification not only between our two parties, but with other political groups in the society."

He said such a plan will "offer to the nation, at the appropriate time, something that will be purposeful and will in fact have the competence to tackle the various problems we are facing in our society."

He added, "We will, in addition to that, be able to agree in principle at this stage that whatever elections are held in Trinidad and Tobago, we will thrive to find the right formula and model to agree on a one-to-one contest against the ruling party."

The two leaders plan to meet again in a month, but Persad-Bissessar is confident that there will be a unification and a one-on-one contest." In the 2007 general election PNM won a minority of votes but won 26 of the 41 seats in the House of Representatives with the other 15 going to the UNC alliance.

COP and UNC together won a majority of votes but because of vote splitting, the PNM won and COP failed to win a single seat although it got more than 22 per cent of the popular vote.